First Corporate Manslaughter Trial
On February 23, 2010 the first Corporate Manslaughter trial will begin meaning that all eyes will be focusing on this trial.
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd will be the first company to be charged under the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act.
The charge relates to the death of Alexander Wright, 27, from Cheltenham, who was gathering soil samples in a trench when it collapsed and killed him in Stroud last September 2008.
Managing director of Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd, Peter Eaton, is also charged with common law manslaughter and a breach of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Ms Leonard, who reviewed the case for the CPS Special Crime Division, explained:
"Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died."
Posted Date: 01st Jan 2010